Shape of CEO's Face Linked to Company Performance

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The shape of a CEO's face can predict his company's financial
performance, according to a new study in which researchers
analyzed photos of 55 male chief executive officers of Fortune
500 businesses.

The crucial feature: Facial width. Corporate leaders with faces
that were wide relative to their length — such as Herb Kelleher,
the former CEO of Southwest Airlines — tended to lead
better-performing companies than CEOs with narrower faces, such
as Dick Fuld, the long-faced final CEO of Lehman Brothers, the
study found.

This finding follows research that has shown that the ratio of
facial width to height is correlated with aggression in men. This
relationship between face shape and behavior, which is thought to
be related to testosterone levels, has not been shown to hold for
women. [ Finger
Length Predicts Aggression in Men ]

Other research has shown
men with wider faces are more likely than those with narrow
faces to behave unethically. In a previous study using a computer
game, researchers found broad-faced
men were less trustworthy than other men.

In the new study, Elaine Wong at the University of
Wisconsin-Milwaukee and her colleagues looked at the batch of CEO
photos, along with information about the companies' financial
performances and letters to shareholders.

But the researchers also found a complication: The top management
team. Teams that take a black-and white-view of the world are
thought to be more deferential to authority, and in companies
with this mind-set,
face shape is more important. Face shape is less important
when top managers see the world in more nuanced terms.

Their research will appear in an upcoming issue of the journal
Psychological Science.